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Jacksonville, Florida When the 1986 New York Mets assembled at Shea Stadium in August for a 20th reunion of the World Series championship, the loudest cheer was reserved for the final player introduced who had battled countless off-the-field problems through his own bad choices - Darryl Strawberry. Another of the high-profile Mets and a Strawberry running mate, pitcher Dwight Gooden, was unable to attend the reunion because he's still serving time in a Florida prison for violating his probation by using cocaine. Less conspicuous among these '86 Mets - a collection of players that achieved almost as much notoriety for their excessive lifestyle away from the game as their 108 regular-season victories - is the backup catcher who has become a different kind of Hall of Famer during his two decades out of the batter's box. Ed Hearn never signed a lucrative big-league contract. After an eight-year struggle just to reach the majors, Hearn's stay on the baseball mountaintop ended before he had a chance to really take in the view. After his rookie season with the '86 Mets, he played in only 13 more games during the next two years with the Kansas City Royals because of a painful shoulder injury that never fully healed.  Ed Hearn with Mets teammate Ray Knight. Hearn was part of the infamous trade by then Royals' executive John Schuerholz that sent future All-Star pitcher David Cone to the Mets. And Hearn has seen his life after baseball take a different plummet than the alcohol and substance abuse nightmares endured by Gooden and Strawberry. Virtually all of his former Mets' teammates enjoyed greater baseball careers, but none of them returned to Shea Stadium on that momentous occasion with the same perspective as Hearn. Sometimes, it's hard to see the real-life Hall of Famers from the ones inducted for merely their athletic skills and productivity in the game. It wasn't until Hearn left baseball that he discovered the true meaning of getting up from a knockdown pitch. Through unfathomable circumstances, and before smaller audiences now than he had in those Mets' glory days, Hearn has become a bigger hero to people than he ever imagined. Not as a baseball icon, but as a motivational speaker who relishes the opportunity to uplift people. Hearn does it with humor, with frankness, and mostly, with a powerful story that comes from his daily struggle to overcome all the medical challenges thrown upon him. A few months after he left baseball for good in 1991, Hearn, then 31, was diagnosed with kidney failure and began dialysis treatments. His 15-year journey since then has been a monument to perseverance, too often preceded by so much despair that it's a wonder Hearn even made it to that Mets' reunion or even his 46th birthday. Ten years ago, I co-authored Hearn's book, titled Conquering Life's Curves, and not much has changed. The catcher who played in 62 major-league games and hit four home runs is still battling in life's trenches. "I don't even know what normal is," Hearn said. "At 46, I feel like what I think a 65 or 70-year-old would feel. My body feels it's at a point, medically and physically, that I'm about to retire. It's a chore just to walk up stairs." Hearn doesn't want sympathy. But he does want to impart on those willing to hear his message that a lot of good can still come from years of physical suffering and living in a perpetually hope-challenged state. His medical résumé isn't a pretty sight: three kidney transplants, overcoming cancer in his lip and temple, radiation treatments for a tumor that has been surgically removed, sleep apnea, weekly IV treatments for hypo-gamma globulin anemia, lingering pain in his feet, constant headaches that make it difficult to sleep, and taking 25 pills a day to combat various maladies. But in living through his own personal hell, which included briefly contemplating suicide back in 1993, Hearn has also taken advantage of another career opportunity that has brought him more fulfillment than any World Series ring or ballpark ovation. Approximately 30-50 times a year, Hearn goes around the country giving motivational speeches to Fortune 500 companies, state & regional conventions and various corporate groups that are genuinely moved by his willingness to mix humor with hard-hitting anecdotes about his medical ordeals. Two decades ago, Hearn thought getting two hits off Los Angeles Dodgers' pitcher Bob Welch in his major-league debut on NBC, with announcers Vin Scully and Joe Garagiola on the call, was the thrill of a lifetime. When the ball rolled through Boston Red Sox first baseman Bill Buckner's legs to end of the most memorable World Series game and the Mets were basking in champagne two days later, Hearn believed nothing could be so gratifying.
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